Its not how you use your body so why train like it?

Well, the way I use my body leads to me looking like sedentary alcoholic despite burning thousands of calories per day in a physical labor-intensive job. I get plenty of exercise; I am relatively fit, especially now. I was overweight before because I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, in whatever portion I wanted - that was several thousand calories daily.

I want localized change therefore I favor localized training.

 

You were overweight because you consumed more calories than you worked off in your physical labour. Its an easy trap made by 90% of people. What is now normal (52oz soda's and all you can eat resto's) is a gross yet profitable modern offering. Britain is catching USA up as a nation of obese TV watching dysfunctional health timebomb layabouts because our way of eating and working is changing due to business. The chocolate display is at the till to remind you you need it.

The proof is always in the pudding. As a tree surgeon I ate drank much the same as you. I have a high metabolism and am 'wired' so burn up calories easily. Nevertheless out of work I started to fatten up enough to make me start exercising - a few months off and it all goes to pot.
Its interesting though that you get plenty of exercise and are only relatively fit. Quality is everything.
To body build you need to consume lots of calories and push your body really hard - you'll be on the toilet more as a result and will be offered roids eventually.
My point which everyone is missing is that if your arms are stronger than your abs and back you'll sure enough end up in trouble. Imabalance.
If we are a species descended from hunter gatherers then the best thing we can do is mirror that in our exercise regime.
Sprinting, jumping, ducking and diving wrestling bears. Ball players don't get fit playing ball they pull weighted sleds, jump with weights on etc. I'm sure they pump too but if you google around you'll see that the gains (the winning edge) are made out of the ordinary gym environment.

 

I have done weight loss before. In order to ensure that the majority of the weight I lose is fat and not muscle, I will make sure to eat as much protein as possible.


This is all wrong. Your body needs protein to repair and grow muscle after you push your body beyond its normal regime. It wont care a damn where it gets the energy to train but you may end up with spots. You may as well eat spoons of sugar but if you are overweight then you have many spoons laid down in the form of fat. In order to get real muscle gain you have to train to the point where lifting your soldering iron the next day is a challenge. Other than that your just toning up. Too much protein leads to bad breath - ask a vegetarian Indian. (Not the extinct shroomed up Red ones)
Kettlebells rock - most people don't like em cos they aint able to cope with the intensity. Take up tree surgery. Itll fall off and you'll be too tired to waste time at the gym.

 

If my fat loss stalls I will have to start "exercising".




Sorry to disagree but take it from an expert that is total bunkum. QUOTE]



Magic Smoke and mirrors RB. If you are an expert why the need to lose weight.
Never employ an overweight tree surgeon or gym instructor is my advice.

 

They're healthy enough, that's just what someone looks like with no fat on their body. And yeah, it's more of a temporary situation for a couple of weeks around contest time, they normally hold more fat.

I guess my point is that bodybuilding consists of two basic parts; 1. skill to add muscle mass, and 2. skill to remove every bit of bodyfat.

Making bodybuilders the world's foremost experts in bodyfat reduction.

They take steroids and starve themselves pre photoshoot. A boxer makes weight by sauna and dehydration.

 

Things are rarely black or white. Just like any one posts are true or false. Show some tolerance in your responses or at least come up with global, timeless, universally approved statistics; But the latter rarely makes for interesting conversations.

 

I went from 240 pounds to 158 by calorie reduction and walking. After the surgeries I stopped walking, and started gaining. I'm back to the old regime again, but I'm now 189 pounds. My goal is 165 or less, 155 ideally.

 

Things are rarely black or white. Just like any one posts are true or false. Show some tolerance in your responses or at least come up with global, timeless, universally approved statistics; But the latter rarely makes for interesting conversations.

I see your point Geo but comparing fat loss plans to body building/ers is a non starter on the cheese and chalk board.
No one seemed to comment on my earlier post ref FMS it was a good post- hopefully a bigger % googled and wiki'd it. Really good stuff for Everyman.
Whether all body builders take steroids is not the main point but creatine is not a regular food stuff growing in a field and not 'natural'.
I posted earlier examples of what was said as comparison. Eating protein will not make you buff.

Here in the UK we have a show called Secret Eaters. All claim to survive on 800 calories a day and are mystified about their lack of weight loss. One woman when filmed was drinking 2500 Cals a day - just 'didn't realise.' Many are filmed eating 3 choc bars before lunch.

It is very hard to be brutally honest about yourself and your actions but necessary to effect real change.

I have not meant to offend nor have I been offended. My opinion is that most people have sick bodies, me included. Our natural born functionality is limited by the boxes our culture forces us into. Our habits are dictated by the changing norms and pressures.

Greeks and Romans didn't look like modern body builders and neither does da Vinci 's Everyman.

Tolerance goes both ways - I don't know much about electronics but I know a thing or two about the natural human body.

I'll butt out.

 

I went from 240 pounds to 158 by calorie reduction and walking. After the surgeries I stopped walking, and started gaining. I'm back to the old regime again, but I'm now 189 pounds. My goal is 165 or less, 155 ideally.

After having my SI joint bolted together I was unable to walk normally.
I didn't accept that and forced my body despite agonising pain to walk straight.
I walk straight. If I don't keep up my squats my pelvis drifts out of alignment because my body is working around the problem and thinks for itself.
A daily struggle ; but one thing is for sure I'm better post accident than pre. Huh??
www.functionalmovement.com
www.[B]physioconditioning[/B].com

 

I see your point Geo but comparing fat loss plans to body building/ers is a non starter on the cheese and chalk board.
No one seemed to comment on my earlier post ref FMS it was a good post- hopefully a bigger % googled and wiki'd it. Really good stuff for Everyman.
Whether all body builders take steroids is not the main point but creatine is not a regular food stuff growing in a field and not 'natural'.
I posted earlier examples of what was said as comparison. Eating protein will not make you buff.

Here in the UK we have a show called Secret Eaters. All claim to survive on 800 calories a day and are mystified about their lack of weight loss. One woman when filmed was drinking 2500 Cals a day - just 'didn't realise.' Many are filmed eating 3 choc bars before lunch.

It is very hard to be brutally honest about yourself and your actions but necessary to effect real change.

I have not meant to offend nor have I been offended. My opinion is that most people have sick bodies, me included. Our natural born functionality is limited by the boxes our culture forces us into. Our habits are dictated by the changing norms and pressures.

Greeks and Romans didn't look like modern body builders and neither does da Vinci 's Everyman.

Tolerance goes both ways - I don't know much about electronics but I know a thing or two about the natural human body.

I'll butt out.

Don't worry, I wasn't scolding you, by no means. I wasn't even addressing you directly (I usually do it with an @).

I just drop a word of prudence and tolerance from time to time in discussions. EEs are often have very "strong opinions". Maybe it has to do with us being the "smartest" in our families, most of the time.


To add a bit to the topic, up until high-school I was around 72kg. Biking, trekking, home-cooked food etc made for a good comination. Then at university I lived alone and at 23 I went up to 82kg after an exam period. The problem was that I already ate very little for years that my metabolism was at a very low level. Maybe one large meal a day. It was the lack of exercise that had made a difference.
So, after I started running 10km a week, once a week AS WELL AS eating a light meal or two at the uni, I fell back to 74kg, where I am right now. I don't know if I'll keep falling.

I understand that my body is much younger than the average poster's, but startor is quite close to my age.

As for muscle volume, I'm blessed with a good quality DNA. I grow muscles easily and so far I don't need any more. If I could make a change, I'd ask for a flatter belly.

I don't know if body exercise could hurt a normal person with a day job, short or long run. You'd have to do stupid stuff, such as running 25km without theoretical preparation (friend's undersoles where black for a week, as if they were burned) or hurt yourself pulling excess weights.

Exercise may be the stupid man's crosswords, but it still needs a bit of reason to survive it.

 

Exercise may be the stupid man's crosswords, but it still needs a bit of reason to survive it.

Exercise is natural to humanity. EE isn't.

Me - my primary teachers described me as a 'very, very bright boy'. I just can't stand academia. Sparkys blog speaks to me of the frustration of Uni
This is a shame when you want to know things because they become useful to you later on. Some of the guys on here are no smarter than me just have experience. Anyone can be a tree surgeon, but its just as big a curve in the beginning as particle physics if you see my point.
I didn't do A level maths but when I did an access to a Maths/Engineering degree I'd complete the papers in 30 minutes and walk out and get 96%. I had an hour and a half to do something more exciting in my eyes.
As soon as we got to Pure Maths I just didn't get why? Also I had no idea what I wanted out of it. Teaching, defence, academia....aaargh!

It doesn't matter - I have kids now.

I may always come across as a bit extreme on here-I don't mean to offend but I'm different with a different background. I'm a frustrated and crap writer and we are all mostly men so open discussion is limited somewhat.I know this I hang around Mums too much for any man's good.


Your belly issue will be solved by Pilates 100's for a fifty count x 3 - ignore the burning pain - its just the weakness leaving your body angrily; then superset with shoulder bridges x3 - 5 minutes total back to the lab. When you turn your abs and pelvic floor on your body can function as intended. RB will (I hope) agree on that - its what has stopped him pooping when lifting serious Chrysler.

 

I hesitated to share my experience. Didn't want to discourage anyone.

I started working out (lightly) last march.
For no special reason. Just seemed like the thing to do after retirement and giving up league volleyball.

7 days a week:
10M on "life cycle" recumbent bike or elliptical.
15 reps on each of 8 "life cycle" machines.
10M recumbent
Total time ~ 30M
ps. 15 reps each leg side kick weight lift. (don't know what it's called. I adapted another machine)

I know this might not be the best routine, but I don't take it too seriously.

Total weight loss = 0

I just looked at a chart. I'm 50lb over ideal.
5-11 215lb

Weight never varies 3lb. Morning, night, big meal. I've been ill the last week. My wife asked about my losing weight, jeans falling down.

So I checked today. 218lb

Only time I've lost weight was with NordicTrack on turning 40.
30M / 3 times a week for a couple years.
Went from 250 to 210 and pretty much kept it off.
At that time I made small changes to eating habits. Smaller portions. Gave up donuts and deserts.

No posts from me 6:00-6:30 the last year.
I meet my sister at our brother's gym two blocks away. Only missed a half dozen times.
We encourage each other. She shares my weight loss experience.

 

...
Magic Smoke and mirrors RB. If you are an expert why the need to lose weight.
Never employ an overweight tree surgeon or gym instructor is my advice.

Who said I'm overweight and "need" to lose weight? My bodyfat calipers show 9.5mm on my waist, 6.5mm mid thigh, and about 4mm on my bicep. I'm fit, lean and rock hard.

My goal is to go from fit and lean to sexy "ripped".

If you disagree that bodybuilders are the world's leading experts in how to gain muscle and how to remove bodyfat, that's fine. You're entitled to your opinion.

And for the record I do agree with much of what you say about whole-body training. I'm not just a bodybuilder I also do a lot of general motion exercise and martial arts exercise. Please don't be so quick to assume someone is just a useless musclebound meathead; "I can lift heavy 'tings".

...
Only time I've lost weight was with NordicTrack on turning 40.
30M / 3 times a week for a couple years.
Went from 250 to 210 and pretty much kept it off.
At that time I made small changes to eating habits. Smaller portions. Gave up donuts and deserts.

That's the secret. A very small reduction in calories, and a very small increase in general activity level. If you do either thing too much you upset your body's feedback loops and cause problems.

Reduce the size of your meals 5% and your body won't notice. Start having "small portions" and it WILL notice and you will wear the backlash.

Same with exercise. Don't really "start exercising" so much as just increase activity levels. Like you can still sit on the lounge and watch a movie, but instead of doing it like an immobile slug get up a coupel of times and have a gentle stretch. Your body burns fat best at very low activity levels so you train it to be slightly more active at the times when you are NOT exercising.

 

Ok RB truce. Its easy to misread posts and get the sense slightly wrong, assume then comment.
We both seem able at that.

Thanks for agreeing not everything I say is bunkum!

I'm sexy lean and ripped as much as I need. Genetics is a wonderful help in this - I'm a grafter not an exerciser but I got the bug in recovery. That for sure makes you more of an expert than me. I have a punch bag and its works for me - best fun esp. with a pic of your ex employees on there.

The best thing that's been said so far is to increase slightly. Watch the film but get up and move once in a while. Regularly even. Brain people easily forget this. Brawn people cant sit still often.

Extra muscle is always good for aging men with weight issues. Age robs muscle- extra muscle uses calories just being there. Pump is all good.

Theres nowt wrong wi bodybuilding as long as you stretch well and pay attention to movement qualitytoo. It does cost in food though!

I googled RB bodybuilder. I don't know if that's you in the pics but they are the same I found ! Nice splits buddy. So you can be ripped, beefy and stretchier than me!

Being on a EE forum I assume you are no meathead. Lots of normal BB guys are though! Its mans biggest fault that might is always right.

Keep up the weight loss guys, get away from the desk for a few. Drop and do twenty whatevers ad hoc. Make it fun, brief and progress will be made.

Muscle is heavier than fat so don't get hung up on the scales.

 

It has now been four months since I had the gastric bypass surgery and, overall, I am still very pleased with the progress to date.

• I've lost 78 lb (333 lb -> 255 lb).
• I've lost over 150 lb from my all-time heaviest (~408 lb).
• I'm half-way from my pre-surgery weight to my ultimate goal.
• I'm at my lowest weight since the summer between getting out of the Air Force and returning to college (1987).
• I've been off insulin for three months.
• I'm wearing 44" pants (down from 56" before the surgery).

My rat poison is still a challenge, but we seem to be getting a handle on it.

I am just finishing my fourth "whoosh" (very rapid weight loss as the body finally decides to release the water it's been storing in the empty fat cells). This one was 20 lb in 11 days. My last whoosh was 22 lb in 7 days. The length between whooshes is increasing. This last plateau lasted nearly four weeks and I gained 10 lb from the end of the prior whoosh to the start of this one, so a net loss of only 10 lb this time around (compared to a net loss of 18 lb in the prior cycle which took only three weeks total). But this is all to be expected.

Assuming that my latest whoosh is over (which I think is the case), then my cumulative weight loss is 10 lb behind the incremental model I put together in the days leading up to the surgery. I can live with that. I am right on my "high expectation" model that I put together based on info from various gastric bypass sites and I am below the six-month expectation provided to me by my bariatric nutritionist. I fully expect to have lost a total of at least 100 lb by the six month mark -- at least in reality; where I am in the current plateau cycle at that time will determine if the scale agrees.

I am still consuming 500 to 600 Calories a day most days. Some days a bit more and some days considerably less. I've set up some basic exercise stuff down in the basement, but have been a bit under the weather the last week and so haven't started my program yet. I'm almost back to normal, so hopefully sometime this week.

The bottom line is that I am very pleased with the progress to date and am very optimistic for ultimate success. I may or may not make my final goal (presently 177 lb) by my 50th birthday (26JAN15), but am pretty sure that I can get below 200 lb (what is known as "Onederland") by then.

 

WBahn

Thanks for the update. It is very interesting. I am not a candidate for the surgury but I still well above your ultimate target - so I am watching closely.

Could you share some of your feelings about hunger, will power and define 'under the weather' if it is related to dieting/surgury (When you get a chance).

 

WBahn

Thanks for the update. It is very interesting. I am not a candidate for the surgury but I still well above your ultimate target - so I am watching closely.

Could you share some of your feelings about hunger, will power and define 'under the weather' if it is related to dieting/surgury (When you get a chance).

Sure.

Hunger: Pretty much non-existent. The hormones that create a sense of hunger are primarily produced in the part of the stomach that has been bypassed and so, by-and-large, hunger ceases. There is growing evidence that many people that are morbidly obese overproduce this hormone and that it is likely genetically related. But of course it isn't as simple as just that.

Willpower: So far quite easy. Before, keeping up the willpower and determination was extremely difficult (basically impossible) because I (like so many others) had a long history of struggling for months to make gains that could be completely lost in just a few weeks or even days. As a result, if your progress stopped or (by scale) seemed to reverse for even a few days it became very hard not to just give up in frustration. Even if you KNOW that the body loses weights in fits and starts and even if you KNOW that weight gain often is good news because it may indicate denser water replacing fat. Back in 2009 I was ultra diligent and got from 326 (if memory serves) down to 302 over about the course of about three months. Then I went on a three day business trip and gained 18 pounds of the 24 I had lost. That was the end of that effort as it was just too much of an emotional blow and I couldn't built up the determination to get back on the wagon. As a result, within a few months my weight was back up to over 380 lb. But now I can weather the weeks of no loss or even five to ten pounds of weight gain because I have confidence that it is temporary and that I am still losing fat and that I will mostly catch up when the next whoosh arrives. That, coupled with the lack of hunger (plus the fact that if I eat more than a few ounces in a single meal I know I will be throwing up or at least be very uncomfortable) makes it pretty easy to stay the course. So since I CAN'T binge, no matter how frustrated I might get, I KNOW that I AM losing weight even if the scale doesn't show it. As a result, I don't get frustrated at the long plateaus -- or at least not very much. Now I don't expect to come off a plateau for at least three weeks and so it is only the time after three weeks that bothers me at all, and even that is only a minor annoyance.

Illness: Other than the complications I had from the surgery, which took the better part of two months to get past, I have been "under the weather" twice. The first time I'm pretty sure was just a cold that I caught from my daughter. This latest one might or might not be a bug. It lasted about a week -- a bit more, actually -- and I am just now getting pretty much over it. I don't think it is related to the surgery, though the low calorie intake coupled with the rapid weight loss is likely making it easier for me to catch something and harder for me to shake it. That will sort itself out in time as I settle in to my final weight.

 

Thanks for the update!

Can you describe your diet in more detail, ie which foods and when you eat? How do you control to 500-600 calories?

I recently started calorie counting/logging to go for the next stage in my bodyfat reduction and on my low calorie day I'm on 1600, which is definitely less than my calorie requirements and leaves me feeling antsy all day.

1600 calories is only 400 calories a meal, for 4 meals a day. And I'm eating tiny meals of egg whites and water packed tuna and boiled rice etc to be able to meet that 1600 calorie mark. Everything is carefully measured, which is pretty easy since I have a small digital scale in the kitchen.

I don't want to sound like I am calling you a liar or anything but is it possible you are mistaken with that 500-600 calorie figure? For most people they will scoff down 500 calories in a couple handfuls of potato chips, as a small snack between meals.

(For the record I've put on 0.5 kg and lost some more bodyfat, I'll do proper caliper measurements in a week or two).

 

Thanks for the update!

Can you describe your diet in more detail, ie which foods and when you eat? How do you control to 500-600 calories?


I recently started calorie counting/logging to go for the next stage in my bodyfat reduction and on my low calorie day I'm on 1600, which is definitely less than my calorie requirements and leaves me feeling antsy all day.

1600 calories is only 400 calories a meal, for 4 meals a day. And I'm eating tiny meals of egg whites and water packed tuna and boiled rice etc to be able to meet that 1600 calorie mark. Everything is carefully measured, which is pretty easy since I have a small digital scale in the kitchen.

I don't want to sound like I am calling you a liar or anything but is it possible you are mistaken with that 500-600 calorie figure? For most people they will scoff down 500 calories in a couple handfuls of potato chips, as a small snack between meals.

(For the record I've put on 0.5 kg and lost some more bodyfat, I'll do proper caliper measurements in a week or two).

Before the surgery I would have been as skeptical as you and for the same reasons. Before I started low-carbing (2002) there were several times that I attempted very calorie restricted diets that were in the 1200 to 1500 Calorie per day range and after a week or two I would be miserable due to extreme lethargy, hunger, and headaches and my weight loss would slow or stop as my body went into extreme starvation mode.

After I discovered low-carbing (which I am convinced is a valid and healthy lifestyle, just not one that I could make long-term successful due to my severe sugar addiction -- which is itself something I used to be very skeptical about the existence of) I realized that on a high-fat, low-carb diet that I could be down in the 1000 Calorie range and not feel hungry at all since fat provides a feeling of satiation out of proportion to the calories it contains (though I never did that for more than a few days because I was scolded pretty severely by other hard-core low-carbers and educated about the need to keep the calories up which, for me, was in the 2500 Calorie/day range. Keep in mind that at that time my weight was in the 350+ lb range and my caloric needs just to maintain a sedentary lifestyle (which mine wasn't, but wasn't far from) was in excess of 3500 Cal/day. So for about six months I consumed 2500 Cal/day and lost just over 50 lb and was feeling wonderful with lots of energy, no hunger, and fabulous blood work all the way around. My total cholesterol was 127 and my HDL/LDL ratio was terrific as was everything else. Then one night at a BBQ (at which I had been very good and true) I got talked into one scoop of ice cream for desert (by another low-carber!) and that started an immediate chain of events that dropped me right off the low-carb wagon. As a result of that and similar experiences afterward in subsequent low-carb efforts I realized that sugar addiction does exist and that I am very much a sugar addict.

Anyway, so when they said that I would be consuming about 500 Calories/day after the surgery (and I thought that they were only talking about during a short recovery period while I transitioned from liquid to soft to regular food) I was concerned, especially since I knew that I would also need to limit the fat.

After the surgery your new stomach pouch is about size of an egg, which is right about 2 fl oz. So that's the limit on the size of your meals for quite some time (the pouch will expand over the course of the first 12 to 24 months to an eventual size of about 8 fl oz). Much over that and you will be throwing it back up (and they aren't kidding about that). You are also directed NOT to eat between meals at all and to just eat three meals a day. The biggest problem I had when I was transitioning to soft food was trying to find a way to get my calories UP to 500 Cal/day since three 2-oz meals of any of the allowed foods leaves you at about half that. Still, I was taken aback at my first support group meeting (about five weeks post-surgery) when I learned than most people were still eating in the 400 to 600 Cal range even as long as a year and a half after the surgery and had plenty of energy. At the time I was still struggling with zero energy as a result of some of the complications and couldn't believe that could be the case. Now I am four months out, eating in that range, and have plenty of energy.

Now, you asked for specifics in terms of diet, but first let me say that most days I don't do careful calorie counting but rather I do spot checks. Also, I have a fairly limited stable of things I eat and have a good idea of what those things contain. Here are some examples of daily intake:

One of the things I do frequently is consume nothing but three Atkins protein shakes (and I usually have to remember and force myself to drink the third because I just am not hungry). Three of those total to 480 Calories with 45g of protein, 27g of fat, and 6g of carbs. For the first couple weeks in June I did nothing but these shakes.

When I was living in Golden there was a Chick-fil-A nearby and they have real lemonade made with Splenda, so I would often go there first thing and get a 32-oz one of those (30 Cal). Sometimes I would also get a chicken salad sandwich (500 Cal) and have half for one meal and half for another meal and that would be it for the day. So for the day I would be 530 Cal with 28g protein, 20g of fat and 62g of carbs. I would often remove one of the slices of bread to significantly reduce the carb total, but I don't know by how much.

Other times I would get their 4-piece nuggets kids meal with the fruit cup. If I could eat the whole thing it would total to 175 Cal (not counting the lemonade, which I consume over the course of the day). But I am seldom able to eat the whole thing and usually just have three of them. On days that I had this, my other meal(s) would usually be one or two Atkins shakes.

Another thing I did on numerous occasions was get the lemonade at Chick-fil-A and then go across the parking lot to Jimmy Johns and get a Tuna Unwich (lettuce wrapped instead of bread). As ordered, that totals to 455 Calories and that would then be two meals and all I would have for the day. At first I would get it made with bacon, but that proved to be a bit too much fat and so I stopped doing that. With the lemonade, this totaled to 485 Cal with 33g of protein, and 18g of carbs. In practice, I would often end up saving half for the next day and having a protein shake instead. If I had two shakes, the lemonade, and half a sandwich it comes out to just under 600 Cal total.

Sometimes I would stop at the grocery store deli and get half a pound of mesquite turkey breast and have half of it one day (over two meals) and half the next.

Since I am at home now (and since I am unemployed), I don't do fast-food places anymore and eat at home. I love deviled eggs and so I will frequently make four of them using two eggs, a tablespoon of Miracle Whip, and a dap of spicy mustard (plus some seasoning and herbs). That totals to 220 Cal, though I often can't eat the fourth one and my wife eats that, so in practice it is usually about 170 Cal. For another meal I have found that Walmart has bacon-wrapped fillet-of-beef for about $4.50 for two of them (3oz each). Each one is 260 Calories and that makes complete meal (I can seldom eat the whole thing and the dog often gets between a third to a half of it).

Another thing that I will make is tuna salad using a can of tuna, two hard-boiled eggs, about four tablespoons of Miracle Whip and some celery, mustard, and seasonings. The total for everything is about 520 Calories and then I use it to make three lettuce wraps (~175 Cal each) that I eat over the course of three days.

Let's look at yesterday, specifically, which was a very heavy day for me foodwise because I ended up being away from the house all day which I hadn't intended and so I had to get stuff to eat on the go. I got stuck at the DMV and had a hot dog and chips from the street vendor. The bag of chips (140 Cal), hot dog (180 Cal), cheese sauce (~ 80 Cal), and bun (80 Cal) came to about 480 Calories (he had the bags/jars and let me see them). I ate all the chips but only about half the hot dog (gave the rest to a friendly cat that was hanging around) and still thought I was going to throw it up a bit later. So that was actually about 310 Cal. Later I stopped at Popeye's and had one chicken tender (110 Cal) and a small mash/gravy (110 Cal) of which I had less than half. So that meal totaled about 160 Cal, bringing me up to 470 Cal at that point. Then, before bed, I had a slice of toast (100 Cal) with cream cheese (100 Cal) on it, which put my total for the day to 670 Cal and I definitely felt like I had overeaten for the day.

 

Oh, and another way of looking at this is that in the last 18 weeks I have lost 78 lb for a loss of 0.62 lb/day on average. If that loss is only fat, then it would equate to a calorie deficit of about 2200 Cal/day. At an average weight of about 290 lb over that time and assuming about 10 Cal/lb of body weight, then that would need an average daily intake of about 700 Cal/day to make the numbers work out. Now, not all the loss is fat. Some is muscle (which is expected since I don't need as much muscle to carry around 250 lb as I did to carry around 330 lb) and some is water. Also, the 10 Cal/lb is a crude estimate. But still, the numbers are in pretty close agreement.